Page 54 of Rurik
“Did you know she was our sister?” Damien askedcoolly.
“No. She admitted it to me after we slepttogether.”
“She says you are mates. Is that true?” Damien’s hazel eyes lacked Charlotte’s warmth. His gaze wasstony.
Jason stared at his brother in horror. “What?”
“Answer me, Barinov,” Damien said. “Is ittrue?”
“She is mine. My true mate,” Rurik said through clenched teeth. “I have claimedher.”
For a second nothing happened. It seemed like Damien was holding himself back. For a moment it seemed like he was reaching for his pistol, but his hand froze as it touched theholster.
“How do we undo it? How do we break the matingbond?”
“How do you undo love? The bond only occurs because the feelings are true. I belong to her and she to me as long as she’s alive. When she dies, Idie.”
Jason frowned. “I thought that was only with other dragons. This works with humanstoo?”
“Barinov, answer the question,” Damiensaid.
“Dragons mate for life. The bonds are…” He tried to swallow the words, but they bubbled back to the surface. “When a dragon loses its mate, the dragon dies of grief. It always kills the human part of the dragon, because one cannot live without the other.” He didn’t know how to explain that dragon mythology of his people, largely because so much of it had been lost over the millennia, to the point that no dragon alive knew how much of it, if any, was actuallytrue.
“But does that happen to humans too? If you die first, will Charlotte…” Damien didn’t finish the thought, but Rurik knew what he wasasking.
“No, at least I don’t think so. She isn’t a dragon, so I don’t think mate grief would killher.”
Rurik sighed heavily. His limbs ached, and the iron cuffs cut into skin that could no longer healproperly.
But he knew the serum’s limitations. This would last a day, at most, and then he’d come roaring back to himself, and he could deal out some serious retribution to the Brotherhood. Then he would rescue Charlotte and get the hell out ofthere.
Assuming they didn’t kill himfirst.
* * *
Charlotte layon her side in the back of an SUV, her head pounding. She tried to sit up, but her body ached. She blinked, her brain foggy. She recognized the two women in the front seats of thevehicle.
“Tamara, Meg, what’s going on?” She didn’t immediately remember what had happened, but when her gaze met Tamara’s in the rearview mirror, the last few hours came flooding back toher.
“Rurik!” She gasped and scrambled to reach for the cardoor.
“Charlotte!” Meg spun around in the front passenger seat. “Calm down, okay? Tamara and I are working on a plan. But first we had to get you somewheresafe.”
“Aplan?”
“Yeah. We both think your brothers are a bit unreasonable at the moment. Damien especially. I know it’s going to piss him off, but I know what I saw between you and Rurik tonight. I’ve seen enough shifters in my day to know what a mating looks like. But the fact is we’re never going to get your brothers to calm down by flying off the handle. So just relax,okay?”
Charlotte tried to calm herself, but it wasn’t easy. It certainly wasn’t helping to have her blood pounding through herhead.
“God, what did you guys give me? I feel like shit.” She moaned, her stomachchurning.
“Sorry,” Tamara said. “I had to give you a sedative. Damien was watching. But I didn’t give you the fulldose.”
“Thanks, I guess.” Charlotte couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “Did you see Rurik? Was heokay?”
“He was okay when I saw him. Your brothers were questioning him about your relationship. I swear if anyone else had been involved in this but you, Damien would have reached an understanding by now. It’s almost like he doesn’t wantto.”
Charlotte frowned. If they hurt Rurik, she would destroy them. It didn’t matter that they were her brothers. Their overreaction was unforgiveable. When Rurik’s brothers had found out who she was, they had panicked, sure, but they hadn’t drugged her and tied her to a fuckingchair.
